What is Critical Theory?

Definition

Generally, Critical Theory is a broad approach to challenging and
destabilizing established knowledge.

In a more focused sense, Critical Theory comes out of the German 'Frankfurt
School,' (who called it Critical Theory of Society or Critical Social
Theory) which emphasizes that all knowledge is historical and
biased, and that 'objective' knowledge is illusory.

Discussion

Critical Theory starts from Marx and Freud and expands through the 20th
century to cover areas such as literary criticism, linguistics, semiotics, psychology, philosophy,
feminism, screen theory, and includes methods such as
structuralism,
post-structuralism,
deconstructionand
postmodernism.

Critical Theory is such a huge area, it is almost impossible to
cover it in total depth. This section is based on an extension of a study done
as a part of a postgraduate university course in psychology.